Improvement in table-leg supports



.N. A. HULL. Table-Leg Supports.

No. 196,093. Patented Oct. 16, 1877.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NICHOLAS A. HULL, OF PERU, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO CHARLES B. RATHBUN, ()F SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN TABLE-LEG SUPPORTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 196,093, dated October 16, 1877; application filed May 8, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NIcnoLAs A. HULL, of the city of Peru and State of Indiana, have made a new and useful Improvement in Table- Leaf Supports, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to table-leaf supports, and is designed more particularly for large tables whose leaves require support at a considerable distance from'the hinges; and consists in pivoting an arm to a plate attached to the stationary part of the bed of the table suffioiently long to reach to the central part of the table-leaf, where it engages with a sliding stop, which is permanently attached to the tableleaf, and which serves as a guide to the arm when the leaf is folded down.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specification, A represents a section of the table and leaf, hinged together in the usual manner. B represents a circular plate attached to the stationary part of the table, and has a strong slotted post, J, to which the arm 0 is pivoted. This arm has the shoulder D, which engages with the stop d when the leaf is raised. E represents a circular plate attached to the central partof the under side of the. leaf, and is provided with a bifurcated stud, F. Between this stud and the projection G the stop-bar H is guided. This bar is cut away at a to form the stop cl, and allow the arm 0 to pass through it when the leaf is being folded down. The lip I on the bar H is to prevent the arm 0 from dropping down when the stop cl is withdrawn from against the shoulder D. The bifurcated stud F forms a support for the stop, and guides the arm laterally. The bar H may be actuated by a spring, so as to make it self-fastening.

It will be seen that by lengthening or shortening the arm C this support may be applied to any required size of table.

I am aware that curved segmental arms, both ridged and pivoted, are attached to the under side of the table-leaf; but all such devices, if placed out at the center of the leaf, so as to relieve the hinges of the great strain to which they are exposed in the larger class of folding-leaf tables, are in the way of the knees of persons sitting at the table, and their curved form requires a side rail for the frame of the table, equal in width to the length of the radius of the circle of their curve. Such side rails are heavy and expensive; and I do not claim in this patent the pivoted arm 0 in any other form or combination than the one shown and described.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is-- The table-leaf support consisting of the plate B, having the slotted post J, the pivoted arm 0, having the shoulder D, the plate E, having the stud F and projection G, the bar H, cut away at a, and having the shoulder d, and lip I, when constructed, arranged, and combined as set forth.

NICHOLAS A. HULL.

Witnesses It. P. EFFINGER, M. S. EFFINGER. 

